“Can you help me?!” was the cry from my good friend who works at a local high school. She was in charge of organising homestays for the visiting Year 10 students from Japan and couldn’t find anyone who was willing to have a student stay for ten days.

Last week I visited Melbourme for two AFL matches and also for the Degas and Australian fashion exhibitions (more on those later). The rest of the time was basically spent shopping and eating (although not necessarily in that order)! With such wintery weather, I continually craved something sweet and couldn’t get enough of..

Ahhhh Rotorua – the place of adrenaline-pumping activities and, let’s be honest, smelly sulphur. N and I did our fair share of thrill-seeking (more on that later) while we were in Rotorua, however we also spent a day learning about the geothermal activity here.

Los Angeles. The city of celebrities, sun and salaries. Well, that’s what the movies and television shows had me believing.As I was touring around LA, however, I found it to be a place of extremes – the extremely rich but also the extremely poor. It was pretty confronting to see homeless people sleeping alongside the Hollywood Walk of Fame and something I definitely wasn’t prepared for.

Before embarking on my trip to Europe, the airline I was travelling with cancelled my flight and gave me one free night’s accommodation in Singapore. So, after switching to holiday mode by throwing back a Singapore Sling on the plane, here is what I got up to during my day in this amazing (and very clean) place…

A well-known travel company recently ran a competition asking for people to list their favourite travel quote. The prize? A travel voucher and to have their phrase featured on the walls of the company’s offices.

Here in Australia, there seems to been a current boom in the popularity of high tea. Women especially are celebrating special events with a glass of sparkling and a tier of treats. So it comes as no surprise when my mum decided to have a high tea for her milestone birthday!